I was very excited when I got the chance to try out some of the wall decals from The Hobbit. I loved the movie and saw it several times in the theater. When I got the decals, I was a little surprised at how big they were. It took me a little bit to figure out where to put them, but finally my husband suggested the wall in our bedroom.

My husband and daughter helped me put the decals up. The decal that has the whole company including Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Dwarves was the hardest one to put up because it was so large. Once it was on the wall, we worked on getting the air bubbles out. Thankfully these wall decals are able to be taken off and moved. It stuck very well back onto the wall no matter how many times we had to move it, which made the whole process a lot easier.

The Bilbo decal was easier to put on the wall. He came in pieces and there were instructions on what order to put the pieces up. My daughter, who is four, helped out too by sticking the small decals on the wall. My husband did move the ones she put on a little once she was out of the room so they would actually be straight.

The wall in my bedroom looks great and it gives me a little Middle-earth in my house. I especially liked that quotes were included with both sets of decals. It adds a bit of the book to the theme. I would highly recommend these wall decals to anyone who is looking for an unique way to decorate their home.

From now until April 12, 2013, you can enter to win a full set of wall decals as well as the Blu-ray Combo Pack of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. You can learn more about this giveaway at RoomMates Decor’s website.

Anyone who has seen The Hobbit remembers that scene in Bilbo’s house when the dwarves start singing that low, gorgeous song. It’s called “Misty Mountains,” and my kids and I love it. My son said it takes him to faraway places in his mind. My daughter asked to have it played on repeat as she wrote in her journal. Although you can buy the soundtrack version, other people have taken their musical gifts to this tune. Enjoy!

This one with violin gave me chills. The parallel fifths harmony (all sung by one person) in the beginning brings us back in time, and then the singer lets loose some impressive cluster chords that I adore. When the violin harmonizes with itself, and the singing the background–woop!

Mixed voices a cappella take a slightly different, more march-like feel to the song, and with women! For anyone who loves baritones (and I do) check out the final note the guy sings on this one. Swoon…

And just for you nerds, this woman sang the full twenty-seven verses that Tolkien wrote:

Well. That happened. I finally went to see The Hobbit in the theaters. I even opted for the 3D high fps stuff, and sat for three hours following one of my favorite stories of all time on the big screen. To say that I had big expectations is putting it mildly. To say that the film didn’t quite hold up is both hugely disappointing and, in lots of ways, inevitable. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films are huge shoes to fill simply because LoTR is a better, grander, more epic story. Stretching one book into three movies is quite a feat, made more complicated by some rather quizzical choices on the studio’s part. Ethan Gilsdorf over at GeekDad did a great analysis of some of the issues that he found distracting.

First, I’m not talking about the fps thing. That’s a post in and of itself, and the more I research it the more I realize it’s going to take a lot more than a bullet point critique to wrap my head around it. To be honest, I thought the high fps was innovative and really changed the way I saw the film. But like I said, that’s not the focus of this piece. Some of these points are related to fps, but the actual choice and technology I’ll leave to another day.

Caveat: I am a huge Tolkien geek. I realize that I am the worst demographic to please. I spent the majority of the early aughts running around the Elendor MUSH pretending to be various hobbits and delving as deeply as possible into the books to be as thematic as I could. I played Sam, Pippin, Merry, and a variety of other feature characters, and read LoTR close to a dozen times. I’m also a geek and a writer and I tend to examine things to within an inch of their lives.

That said, I really enjoyed the Lord of the Rings films, and was pretty much expecting to feel the same about The Hobbit. I even chalked up some of the negative reviews out there to people who didn’t get Jackson’s vision or that the film was supposed to be lighthearted. I wanted to be an unflinching champion for the film, but I can’t. I’m not saying it wasn’t worth the money or that I didn’t enjoy it, but it was certainly not on par with the other films. There are plenty of things that I loved, but quite a few things that are still leaving me scratching my head.

You see, I have a bit of a list, so I’ve narrowed it down to six to save your eyes and my brain.

For those eagerly awaiting Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, you are in for a treat this week. As we wait patiently for scraps from the table, for any news of what may be one of the defining films of this geek generation, we have been given something nice and juicy.

Pull out your magnifying glass and head on over to Entertainment Weekly for 10 scenes from the upcoming adventure. Just hover over the image to see a close up, and let the anticipation build.